August 13, 2002

12:00 PM

Adam Ant, who once assured us that "ridicule is nothing to be scared of", admits pub affray & has been remanded on bail, after using a fake gun to take revenge on pub-goers that took the piss out of his clothes!
Adam seems to have suffered quite a lot - both before and after - his heyday, and his behaviour has led to him being compulsorily detained on at least one occasion.
Quite apart from the fact that Police do not seem shy of killing anyone who could be a threat and might be armed with a pistol, has there ever been such an exact fall from grace for a celebrity - whose personal 'philosophy' came back to haunt him like a Shakespearean tragedy?
posted by dash_slot- (34 comments total)

He must have been desparate, but not serious.
posted by RKB at 12:03 PM on August 13, 2002

And to think, he was such a press darling...
posted by metrocake at 12:05 PM on August 13, 2002

Wow, I used to think the guy was nothing but a goody two shoes. (sorry, you knew that was coming.)
posted by TBoneMcCool at 12:14 PM on August 13, 2002

"fall from grace" ??? You're kidding right? I would posit this is more of a fall from mediocrity. Perhaps a fall from the curb.
posted by y6y6y6 at 12:17 PM on August 13, 2002

My turn.
I heard the real reason was that someone had picked Cher's "Believe" on the pub's Wurlitzer.

The problems started when Adam tried to unplug the jukebox and do them all a favour.
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 12:21 PM on August 13, 2002

Was he...adamant about wanting them to stop teasing him?
posted by mr_crash_davis at 12:29 PM on August 13, 2002

10:38 and I think I've made the wrong decision......

ummm...

There's a bullet with my name on i-i-i-it? (Clint....Eastwood...)
posted by Kafkaesque at 12:29 PM on August 13, 2002

Just remember- Black Flag kills Ants dead!
posted by InfidelZombie at 12:29 PM on August 13, 2002

has there ever been such an exact fall from grace for a celebrity...?

Sylvester Stewart (aka Sly Stone)
posted by timeistight at 12:32 PM on August 13, 2002

y6y6y6, i recommend that you download a copy of Wonderful (the song, not the album) before you say that he was mediocre. It is, IMO, a great song. And no, I'm not a huge fan of his--as a matter of fact, he always sort of bothered me.

Pink, I like your version of the story better.
posted by ashbury at 12:33 PM on August 13, 2002

This has the makings of a big Brighton-esque riot, with mods and rockers replaced by Antpeople and Non-antpeople.

People, think about what you're doing! Think of the puffy shirts that could be torn and the lipgloss that could be smeared!
posted by Kafkaesque at 12:35 PM on August 13, 2002

whose personal 'philosophy' came back to haunt him like a Shakespearean tragedy?

Now I know what those lyrics are.. "Don't drink, don't smoke, don't pull your gun on people in the pub.."
posted by PrinceValium at 12:42 PM on August 13, 2002

Quite apart from the fact that Police do not seem shy..

Hey, leave Sting and Stewart Copeland out of this, dammit!
posted by dr_dank at 12:45 PM on August 13, 2002

All through this thread, a TMBG tune plays through my head....
posted by magnificentsven at 1:04 PM on August 13, 2002

This has the makings of a big Brighton-esque riot, with mods and rockers replaced by Antpeople and Non-antpeople.

Let's just hope that Pete Townsend doesn't write a rock opera about it.
posted by MrBaliHai at 1:18 PM on August 13, 2002

Umm, am I like the only one here who has never heard of this guy?
posted by tsitzlar at 1:21 PM on August 13, 2002

we-e-ell, i know I didn't exactly approach this in a serious frame o' mind, but rarely has a thread brought so many smiles to my face!

I guess i asked for it, but I hoped that the sad state of affairs, caused in some measure by his disease (diagnosed before his successes in the '80s) would generate some sympathy, along with further, similar examples.

Thanx, timeistight! you led me to the soulmusic digest, and reminded me of a long lost giant of the world of music.
posted by dash_slot- at 1:27 PM on August 13, 2002

I've heard of him but I've never heard him, tsitzlar.
posted by timeistight at 2:15 PM on August 13, 2002

I'm just crushed at how badly he's aged...that's just so sad. He was pretty cute back in his pirate days...aaargh matey!

I once dated a boy in college who dressed and looked just like Adam Ant...yum. One hopes that dear Dimler has aged better than his erstwhile idol.
posted by dejah420 at 2:42 PM on August 13, 2002

So, did he try to make them Stand and Deliver?

For InfidelZombie:
unplug the jukebox,
and do us all a favor-
antmusic's lost it's taste
so try another flavor!
Ant music suck suck suck suck sucks...
posted by dogwelder at 2:44 PM on August 13, 2002

I feel sorry for him. I understand he has some rather intense mental problems. He seems to have a pattern of acting up and then facing the fallout once he's regained control again. He has such a goofy persona (although he was sexy as all get out in that pirate gear) that he's an easy mark for ridicule. It's awful.

Ashbury is right, Wonderful, is a great song.
posted by Woolcott'sKindredGal at 2:57 PM on August 13, 2002

ashbury, you're so right--wonderful is well, wonderful! (there's a great extended acoustic mix online at gnutella)

It's really sad about him--he was beautiful when younger and the songs were fun! Now he's just a VH-1 Behind the Music episode...
posted by amberglow at 3:09 PM on August 13, 2002

so, back in the late '80s, a Mad Max rip off called World Gone Wild was made, filming mostly in and around my home town of Tucson, AZ. I got in as one of the evil motocross choir boys (i guess you gotta see it). Adam Ant was the lead baddy, and I saw him quite frequently during filming and film breaks. He is quite tiny (5'6" seems generous), and he ate during food breaks at a table by himself, apparently even staying away from the other actors (Bruce Dern, Michael Pare, Catherine Mary Stewart), and film crew.

With that being said, I was quite the fan in the early '80s, and still turn it up if any of antmusic comes on the radio.
posted by hulette at 3:46 PM on August 13, 2002

Well, that's quite a claim to fame, hulette.
and, MrBaliHai - if Pete Townsend does write a rock opera on the subject, Sting's old enough and ugly enough to play the Malcolm McLaren part. That would be kinda neat, in a circular way [see Sting's first screen credit]... if also scary....
posted by dash_slot- at 5:26 PM on August 13, 2002

this is what centuries of taming does to ya ,

good luck adam.
posted by sgt.serenity at 5:37 PM on August 13, 2002

He's looking an awful lot like Truman Capote these days.
posted by raysmj at 5:46 PM on August 13, 2002

fall from grace ?

Rick James gets my vote, arrested for torture and assault, James says in his defense, "I went ballistic on her. I whupped her ass. That's what I went to prison for. I was high, and I'd been getting high for two weeks, but let me tell you, even if I wasn't high, and someone laid a hand on my family, I [still] would've gotten medieval on her ass." Girlfriend wasn't half as freaky as he thought.

Then there's James Brown. After numerous arrests for drugs and spousal abuse they locked him up after he led police on a high speed chase while armed. Brown answered the charges with a resounding, "Zibbin muth fa for! Hah! Get back!"

George Michael waving his wang in the little boys room. Tommy Lee waving his wang in Pams room. Jerry Lee Lewis boffed a minor, his cousin to add insult to injury. Elvis shot a .44 round through a Vegas hotel television, went down to the bar and pissed on a table, screaming, "Tell that Hughes motherfucker to get his ass down here! Now!"

Adams got a long way to go to compete with these boys.
posted by cedar at 7:07 PM on August 13, 2002

raysmj - That's prolly cos he invariably wears a hat in this era: it took some time googling images before I found this one - which may, if he's sensitive about hairloss - explain his predeliction for CapoteWear^TM...
posted by dash_slot- at 7:12 PM on August 13, 2002

boffed is a fine word.
posted by sgt.serenity at 7:29 PM on August 13, 2002

Let's just hope that Pete Townsend doesn't write a rock opera about it.

brian setzer already took care of it with rumble in brighton.

ridicule is nothing to be scared of...
posted by lescour at 7:33 PM on August 13, 2002

i'm very fond of adam ant and felt terrible when this was first in the news (which was when, about 6 months or more ago...?) waaaaay back in the early 80's i had my purse stolen at the now defunct voodoo club (st joseph st. toronto, ontario) and adam skipped going to his own after-show party to help me look for my purse. he figured the thief probably took my money but dumped the important stuff like my id and the several rolls of film i had in it. so we hiked around the area for well over an hour looking in garbage cans and dumpsters. after we gave up he took me for coffee and donuts and then paid for my cab home.

we didn't know eachother so there was no reason for him to be so kind, he just found me crying in the club stairwell and asked "what's wrong luv?". so i wish him all the best and will always think well of him.
posted by t r a c y at 10:09 PM on August 13, 2002

"...has there ever been such an exact fall from grace for a celebrity - whose personal 'philosophy' came back to haunt him like a Shakespearean tragedy?"

"And I swear
that I don't have a gun.
No I don't have a gun."
posted by mr_crash_davis at 12:02 AM on August 14, 2002

... and of course, "Hope I die before I get old."
posted by fuzz at 2:50 AM on August 14, 2002

Oh god, i'm on a roll now...

Pete Burns, leader of Scouser proto-HiNRG band 'Dead Or Alive', creator of fab aural sensation 'You Spin Me round (like a record baby)' and well known eccentric, has also been sectioned under the Mental Health Act... and is apparently recovering in a "celebrity relaxation centre"[!]

That's what you get for glueing your shoe to a car bonnet...

Who's next, we wonder out loud? My money's on Georgiy Michaelopouolous...via Gay.com/popbitch
posted by dash_slot- at 5:24 PM on August 23, 2002